1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of sporting goods, and more particularly relates to a skateboard that is unusually maneuverable.
2. The Prior Art
An Information Disclosure Statement has been lodged in the file of this application. All of the references discussed in it are believed to be distinguishable from the present invention.
The earliest skateboards were made by attaching the front part of a roller skate to the front portion of a board and attaching the rear part of a roller skate some distance away at the rear portion of the board. These relatively primative skateboards were difficult to turn and stopped abruptly when any of the wheels encountered a small rock.
The next step in the evolution of the skateboard came with the introduction of independent trucks. The trucks include two wheels and an axle along with a base including resilient members, by which the axle is attached to the board. This board used relatively narrow trucks and was successful in emulating the feeling of a surfboard. However, because of the narrowness of the skateboard, the rider's toes and heels extended laterally beyond the edge of the skateboard, and this resulted in injuries to the rider. A wider board was needed.
In response to this need for a wider board, boards as wide as 10 or 12 inches then became popular. These wider boards permitted the rider to assume a more normal stance with one foot extended slightly in front of the other foot in the lateral direction on the skateboard. However, the wider trucks used with the wider boards prevented these boards from turning sharply. In order to make sharper turns with these boards, riders learned to apply weight to the portion of the board extending rearward of the rear truck, thereby causing the front wheels to leave the ground, while the rider pivoted on the rear wheels. These boards lacked the feeling of a surfboard, but were an improvement over earlier skateboards.